Modeling Activities

Using the Designer, behavior of classes can be defined by modeling an UML activity diagram.

Adding an Activity Operation

From the quick actions of a class, select Add Activity Operation to add an activity operation:

Enter a name for the operation and click Save:

A BPMN model name must be unique within one service.

In addition, the following name restrictions apply to all service panel elements:

Element names...

... must not be empty.
... must not contain spaces. Exception: Spaces are allowed in operation names.
... must not start with numbers.
... must not end with a period (.).
... must not contain one of the following characters: <, >, :, ", /, \, |, ?, *
Furthermore, the following strings must not be used as element names: CON, PRN, AUX, NUL, COM1, COM2, COM3, COM4, COM5, COM6, COM7, COM8, COM9, LPT1, LPT2, LPT3, LPT4, LPT5, LPT6, LPT7, LPT8, LPT9.

Alternatively, you can open the context menu of the class and select the option Add Operation:

The dialog Add Operation opens. Select Activity Diagram from the drop-down list, enter a name for the operation and click Save:

The new operation is added to the class. It opens automatically in a new Designer tab, and you can directly start modeling your activity:

Refer to Working with the Activity Editor for detailed information.

Once the operation has been created, you can use the quick actions and the context menu to manage it:

You can:

add parameters
- in
- out
- return
open the implementation of the activity diagram
change the implementation from activity diagram to action script or mapping diagram
cut the operation
copy the operation
paste the operation (available if Copy or Cut option have been used before)
rename the operation
delete the operation

Refer to Implementation and Modeling Data Structures for more information on your options and how to create classes and operations.

Overview on the Activity Diagram Editor

When you create a class operation that is implemented by an activity diagram, the activity diagram editor opens:

Use the various functionalities of the activity diagram editor to model your activity:

Name		Description
(1)	Activity Editor	The activity editor is where you model your activity diagram. Refer to Working with the Activity Editor for detailed information about the features of the activity diagram editor.
(2)	Elements Toolbar	The elements toolbar contains all UML elements that you can create on the diagram pane. Refer to Working with the Activity Editor for further details about the usage of the toolbar. Refer to Supported UML Elements in the PAS Designer Developer Guide for details about all UML elements.
(3)	Model Toolbar	The model toolbar assists you during modeling on the diagram pane. Refer to Working with the Activity Editor for an overview of the available options of the model toolbar.
(4)	Designer Panels	In the activity diagram editor, the following panels assist you during modeling: Service Panel: In the service panel you can manage the contents of your whole service such as you BPMN and data model, forms and used libraries. Refer to Service Panel and Working With Libraries for detailed information. Attributes Panel: Use the attributes panel to change the settings of the activity diagram elements and the diagram pane. Refer to Changing the Attributes of Elements on the Activity Diagram for detailed information. Validation Panel: The validation panel supports you during modelling by displaying notes for invalid actions in your models or forms. It also gives advice on how to fix the errors. Refer to Validating a Service for detailed information. Overview Panel: In the overview panel, your model and a blue frame are displayed, representing the content shown on the diagram pane. Use the panel to keep the overview of your BPMN model - and to navigate within. Refer to Working with the Activity Editor for further information about the Overview panel.

Attributes of an Activity Operation

Select an activity operation in the Implementation folder of the service panel to display its attributes in the Attributes panel. You can also edit them there:

Activity operations have the following attributes:

Attribute	Description	Possible Values / Example
Name	Click here to change the Name of the related operation. Activity operation names must follow certain naming rules. They must not contain blanks must not start with a number must not contain special characters	checkSupportManager
Description	If you want to insert or change a description for the respective activity operation, click here to open a text editor where you can enter and format your text.
Is static	Specify if the operation is static (default) or not. Static activity operations can be called without creating an instance of the related class. They get all necessary data via their input parameters. Wanting to call a non-static activity operation, you need to create a local instance of the related class, and call the operation on that object. This is called self Context. For more information, also refer to Adding Operation Calls.	true	The activity operation is static (default) and can be used outside the context of the related class.
Is static		false	The activity operation is non-static and needs a self object as an input.
Stereotype	Via button Add Stereotype, you can add a stereotype to an activity operation. By adding a stereotype, you can extend the attributes of a activity operation with additional properties.	REST

Attributes of an Activity Diagram

When you click on the diagram pane in the Activity editor, the following attributes of the current activity diagram are displayed in the Attributes panel. All attributes are read-only and cannot be edited:

Attribute	Description	Possible Values / Example
Name	Displays the name of the current activity diagram.	checkSupportManager
Type	Path within the implementation folder where the corresponding activity operation resides.	Service.SupportManagerService

Related Pages:

Changing the Attributes of Elements on the Activity Diagram

Working with the Activity Editor